Alarm clock



June 10, 1941. R M; THORSON '2,244,924

ALARM CLOCK Filed Dec. 18, 1939 l INVENTQR B @wm Vf NEY t Y PatentedJune 10, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE-1 ALARM cLocx y Roy M.Thorson, Richmond, Calif. Application December 18, 1939, Serial No.309,793

1 Claim.

This invention relates to devices for resetting the alarm trip mechanismof clocks so that, after the alarm has been once sounded, it may bequickly conditioned to sound at a later time.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simple and eflicientmechanism for producing the result described.

Another object of the invention is to provide mechanism ofthe classdescribed which may be built 'into conventional alarm clocks withoutmaterially disturbing or rearranging the existing mechanism thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide mechanism of the classdescribed which is foolproof and not liable to be damaged or get out oforder.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some ofwhich, together with the foregoing, will be specifically brought forthin the detailed description of the invention hereunto annexed. It is tobe understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specificform thereof herein shown and described as various other embodimentsthereof may be employed within the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of an alarm clock showing the resetmechanism of my invention incorporated therein. A portion of the view isbroken away so as to more clearly disclose the internal construction ofthe clock.

Figure 2 is an enlarged front elevational view of that portion of thestructure of Figure 1 centered around the alarm shaft pinion.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the structure shown in Figure2. The plane of section is indicated by the line 3-3 of the latterfigure.

The great majority of persons, upon waking from sleep, enjoy remainingin bed for a short time before arising. Usually the person is awakenedby the bell or gong alarm on the clock, which he promptly turns ofi.Quite often a person lying awake in bed will again fall asleep and, dueto the fact that the alarm has been silenced, will oversleep therebycausing him to be late for work or miss an appointment. To protecthimself against falling asleep for too long a. period the person, if heuses the conventional alarm clock, must re-set the alarm to sound at alater time, this time being the limit that the person can allow himselfto remain in bed. This resetting of the alarm, it will be evident, is abothersome task and, if the person is not wholly awake, is liable to beperformed erroneously thereby allowing the Ia conventional alarm clock3having the usual alarm set shaft 4 connected with the alarm trip cam, not shown, and with the indicator 6 of the alarm set dial 1. The shaft 4is provided, at the rear of the clock, with the usual knob by means ofwhich the. shaft may be rotated to position the alarm indicator 6 at anypoint on the dial 1 corresponding to the time at which it is desiredthat the alarm will sound. An alarm release cam, not shown but familiarto those skilled in the art, is connected and rotatable with the shaft 4and an element driven in synchronism with the clock movement iscooperative with the cam rto release the bell clapper 8 when the clockhands 9 reach the time on the clock dial II which corresponds with thetime indicated by the alarm set indicator 6 on the dial 1. A hand latchl2 is provided on the clock for clogging the bell clapper 8 when it isdesired to permanently render the latter inoperative. The post I3supporting the alarm bell I4 is provided with an axial bore in which isslidably mounted a push rod I6 provided, at its upper or exposed end,with a push button Il and at its lower end with an integral loop I8having gear teeth I9 along one inner side thereof. The gear teeth I9mesh with the teeth 2| of a small pinion 22 which is journaled on theshaft 4 and whose central bore is provided with a plurality of camnotches 23, see Figure 2, containing balls or rollers 24 so as to forman overrunning clutch. A coil spring 26 engaging at its respective endswith a collar 21 formed on the push-rod I6 and the bottom of the bore ofthe post I3, functions to resiliently retain the push-rod I6 and theloop I8 in their uppermost positions. Washers 28 pressed on the shaft 4and positioned at opposite sides of the pinion 22 serve to maintain thetoothed portion of the loop and the pinion in their respective operativepositions.

In conditioning the clock to sound an alarm, the shaft 4, as wasdescribed above, is rotated manually so as to position the indicator 6at the desired time index on the dial l which, in the drawing, is shownas 7:30. The hand latch l2 is, of course, released so as to free thebell clapper 8 to allow it to operate when the alarm is set off. Whenthe hands 9 of the clock reach their respective positions indicating7:30 the alarm will be set ou automatically in the usual manner, If,after being aroused by the ringing alarm, the person desires to ariseimmediately he reaches for the clock and sets the latch I2 to block thebell clapper 8 in the usual way. If, however, he desires to remain inbed for a time he reaches toward the clock and depresses the push buttonI1 downwardly as far as it will go. This causes the loop I8 to movedownwardly and, in so doing, to rotate the pinion 22 which will thencorrespondingly rotate the shaft 4 since the overrunning clutch will, inthis instance, connect the pinion and the shaft for rotation together.push rod I6 is made of such length that the pinion 22 will be movedthrough a rotational arc of slightly less than one full revolution.'Il'his depends upon the amount of time that it is desired to set thealarm ahead. For example, since the minor divisions of the alarm dial 1indicate 15 minute intervals, it may be preferable to proportion thelength of stroke of the push rod so that the pinion 22 and the shaft 4will be rotated, in av counter-clockwise direction, through 4%8 cfa fullarc. rIhis will re-set the indicator 6 at 7 :45 and will correspondinglyre-set the alarm trip cam so that an additional 1/,18 of the cycle ofits associated trip member must be made before the alarm will again besounded, this time, as

before indicated, at 7:45. Thus the alarm may be set ahead as far asdesired in 15 minute increments by simply depressing the pushbutton asmany times as the desired time interval, in minutes, is divisible by 15.When the push button is released after reaching the end of its descent,it is returned to its elevated position by the coil spring 26. Duringrecovery movement of the push rod, the pinion 22 will rotate clockwisewith respect to the shaft 4 so that the overrunning clutch will bereleased and therefore no retrograde movement of the shaft 4 will occur,the rotation of the latter being confined to a counter-clockwise di- Thestroke of theY rection. The alarm set keys of most alarm clocks arerotatable only in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the dialend. However it will be apparent that in clocks wherein the shaft ismovable only clockwise, the rearrangement of the parts of my structureto conform thereto will not depart from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention in detail, what I claim as novel anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a clock provided with an automatic alarm system and having a settingshaft connected with .and to rotate an alarm release memberunidirectionally through a rotary cycle of positions, a tubular guidemember mounted on said clock adjacent said setting shaft, a push rodmounted in and movable axially of said tubular guide member through aprescribed stroke, said push rod having at one end thereof, andencircling said setting shaft, an integral loop, one of the side membersof said loop having gear teeth thereon, a pinion journaled on saidsetting shaft and having peripheral gear teeth in mesh with the gearteeth of said loop side member, said toothed side member of the loop andsaid pinion being relatively positioned so that, when the push rod isdepressed, the pinion will be rotated in the direction of rotation ofsaid setting shaft, said pinion, in the internal bore thereof beingprovided with a plurality of circumferentially inclined notches, rollersin said notches and engageable, upon depression of said push rod,respectively, with surfaces of the pinion and setting shaft tofrictionally secure said pinion and setting shaft for movement together,and the stroke of said push rod being only slightly less than the pitchcircumference of said pinion whereby, when said push rod is depressedthrough a complete stroke, said pinion and setting shaft will each berotated slightly less than one complete revolution.

ROY M. THORSON.

